Former President Bill Clinton has been calling Sen. Barack Obama a highly ambitious, political prodigy who is asking voters to "roll the dice" and elect him president.

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He should know -- that's a fair description of Clinton when he sought the presidency in 1992. And the line of attack is similar to the one Republicans used against him.

"Even when I was a governor and young and thought I was the best politician in the Democratic Party, I didn't run the first time. I could have," Clinton said on PBS's "The Charlie Rose Show," referring to the 1988 presidential campaign.

"And I had lots of Democratic governors encouraging me to. I knew in my bones I shouldn't run -- that I was a good enough politician to win, but I didn't think I was ready to be president," Clinton said.

Clinton was 42 in 1988, four years younger than Obama is now. When he ran in 1992, he was already one of the nation's longest serving governors.

As a first-time presidential candidate, Clinton cast himself as an "agent of change" in troubled times, and faced criticism from Republicans about his youth and inexperience.

Obama finds himself in the same boat, with Clinton manning the torpedoes. On Monday he responded.

"Here's a quote," Obama said with a smile. "'The same old experience is irrelevant. You can have the right kind of experience or the wrong kind of experience. And mine is rooted in the real lives of real people, and it will bring real results if we have the courage to change."'

"And that was Bill Clinton in 1992."